The shape of things to come...

[Quixoticish]

Picked up the Roger Wilco Airbus Package #2 today and got stuck into knocking up a fictional RAF MRTT. (No where near as good looking as the VC-10 I know but, what can you do?) I know it's the wrong version, the RAF one won't have the boom but you've got to work with what you've got and until CLS do their rendition of the MRTT this is the best one available. I have no doubt they'll paint them grey but I thought I'd keep the VC-10 lightning bolt. I may do a more classic white livery and a few other RAF variations then package them together as one download and send them up to the usual three.

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/RAFMRTT1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/RAFMRTT2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/RAFMRTT3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/RAFMRTT4.jpg[/img]

The one thing that really annoys the hell out of me on this model is that the boom is really badly textured, I can't find the part on the texture map that colours it so it's a rather plain grey all over with no shading at the moment and the aircraft won't open in FSRepaint so I can't find the bit on the texture maps to colour it correctly. It almost looks as though it was tacked on as a complete afterthought. "Hey, lets stick an MRTT in the package as well" sort of thing.

[Erick_Cantu]

Isn't 'afterthought' true of basically all of WIlco's models anyway?

[DaveB]

Hi Chris

An interesting subject and one current for at least 2 of our members

I dunno mate but is the down/reverse stroke of the lightning bolt a little too thick. :think: Difficult to tell on a 'what if.. soon to be.. maybe' paint on an unknown quantity but it does look a bit bold when pitched against the VC10/Tristars

Good effort though all the same

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Quixoticish]

I dunno mate but is the down/reverse stroke of the lightning bolt a little too thick. :think: Difficult to tell on a 'what if.. soon to be.. maybe' paint on an unknown quantity but it does look a bit bold when pitched against the VC10/Tristars

The whole thing is a lot thicker than on the VC-10, the thinner lightning bolt looked a little odd as the Airbus has a really chunky fuselage. Plus I don't really do understated! (as hard as that is with grey on grey).

[Quixoticish]

Isn't 'afterthought' true of basically all of WIlco's models anyway?

Don't get me wrong Eric, the actual model and flight dynamics, sounds, operation of the aircraft, fiddly bits in the cockpit, frame rates, it's all great on the regular Airbus models. It's just the MRTT that seems to let the package down, you can't extend the hoses, the little props on the hose pods don't spin (my grasp of AAR terminology is stunning!) and the boom looks fugly. I've fired off an e-mail to RW, I'm hoping at the very least they'll tell me where to texture the boom so I can sort it out with a silver nozzle, black bits, some textures, and generally sort it out, or at the very best they'll say it's a work in progress and will be updated in a service pack.

Unlike with the A400M (yes, I caved and bought it many moons ago and still regret it as my worst FS purchase to this day) I think you actually get your monies worth for this package unless it's the MRTT that interests you the most.

The flight dynamics deserve special mention. I've not really explored it very much (I just jumped straight in and started painting) but on the short hops I've done in her it seems to tally with what I recall from an episode of "Flying Heavy Metal" with Bruce Dickinson where he takes an Airbus for a spin and the FCS won't let him perform certain manoeuvres, exactly the same thing happened on this model. Do something too outrageous and the FCS says "NO!" and stops you in your tracks. It feels much lighter than you imagine as I suppose befits something with a side-stick controller but is very smooth and you really feel as though you're operating a fly by wire aircraft.

(Please take everything I say with a pinch of salt by the way, I'm really not a commercial person and know nothing about how this stacks up to other civvy airliners, this is pretty much the first one I've bought and flown).

[DaveB]

Rgr that Chris

There is rather more of it than a VC10!! Like the tail reg

That 'Flying Heavy Metal' episode you mention was cool.. as they all are

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Quixoticish]

This is up now at AVSIM after a few tweaks and some general tidying up, and I've done a white version as well but it doesn't suit the airframe as well as the grey:

http://library.avsim.net/sendfile.php?L ... LID=118568

[Hot_Charlie]

An interesting subject and one current for at least 2 of our members

I'm not sure if "current" is the right word anymore. It should be, but you wonder if pen will ever go to paper...

Like the tail reg

So do I!

[DaveB]

Missed that

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Quixoticish]

Actually had a nice reply from Wilco this morning, they said the problem with the untextured boom is an FSX/SP2 issue and they are working on a fix at the moment, so I suppose it's not the major disaster I was making it out to be. :flying:

Regarding the tail codes, they are now CH-A and CH-B for the grey and white models respectively (if 3 Sqn can have three letter codes so can I), and I've given them the correct serials, ZZ330 and ZZ331.